1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to mudflaps for trucks and more particularly to a foldable mudflap assembly for retractably disposing the mudflaps to an operative position behind the truck's wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to dispose mudflaps behind the wheels of a truck or truck tractor in order to catch mud, road surface materials or other debris which are picked up and propelled backwards by the truck's wheels. While the mudflaps usually hang freely without perceptable wear or damage, except perhaps from abrading road materials, there are circumstances where serious damage to the mud-flaps does occur due to the particular operating conditions of the vehicle. One example is where the mudflaps behind the wheels of the tractor portion of a tractor trailer rig, required when the motorized tractor is operated without a trailer in tow, interfere with the trailer auxiliary support legs of a flatbed or van trailer or the frame or gooseneck of a low bed trailer. This interference which is damaging to the mudflaps occurs from the jack-knifing effect of the tractor and trailer when the vehicle is in a turn.
Another example is dump truck mudflaps which get caught beneath the wheels when the dump truck is backed over rough terrain. Experience has shown that in this case the flaps are often destroyed.
Heretofore, it has only been known to fasten mudflaps to the undercarriage or fixed frame portion of a truck in order to position the mudflaps in a fixed operative position behind the truck's wheels. To prevent damage the mudflaps in jeopardy of being damaged would have to be completely removed during the adverse operating conditions, a time consuming operation which in some cases presents a storage problem with respect to the unused flaps.
The present invention overcomes the problem of interfering mudflaps by providing an apparatus for quickly and easily retracting the mudflaps from an operative position behind the truck's wheels to a non-interferring position between the wheels. For example, when a dump truck having mudflaps is backed over rough terrain the operator using the present invention can simply retract the mudflaps so that they do not get caught under the truck's wheels and then after discharging his load quickly return the flaps to their operative position.